Portugal Sees Record Online Gambling In Q4
Published April 11, 2021 by Sol FH
Sports betting takes online gambling in Portugal to new heights with the record-breaking fourth quarter.
Portugal has broken online gambling revenue records once again, as recent reports state that they topped €113m (£96m/$132m) in the fourth quarter, led by a spike in growth in the country's sports betting market.
The figures were released by Servico Regulacao e Inspecao de Jogos do Turismo de Portugal (SRIJ), which related to online gambling revenue in the three months until December 31, 2020, show that the market was up 74.7% year-on-year.
The former leading revenue earner was casino games, but, sports betting has now become the main earner for operators in Portugal, rising 89.6% to €64.1m.
Punters wagered more than €345m on sports, up 86.0% from 2019, with soccer being the most popular sport to bet on, which accounted for 86.7% of all bets placed in Q4. Basketball was in second place with 5.2% of all bets, followed by tennis at 4.9%.
Casinos Are On the Up
Online casino revenue was also up year-on-year reaching €49.1m, an increase of 57.9%.
Player spending within this vertical was up 70.0% to €1.41bn. 71.1% of online casino bets on slot games, followed by roulette at €12.6% of bets, blackjack at 6.4%, and poker at 4.2%.
Players and punters spent a total of €1.76bn on iGaming and sports betting in Q4, up 69.2% year-on-year.
Almost 300,000 new players registered for accounts in Q4, a spike of 79.3% from the previous year. The SRIJ also noted that 10,300 people signed up to self-exclude from gambling, which now stands at a total number of 72,400.
There were 49 unlicensed iGaming websites that were blocked in Q4, and, an additional 15 were forced to halt operations.
There have been 675 blocking orders distributed by the SRIJ since June 2015, as well as 680 notices to halt activities.
